Foundation Issues! New to investment properties

Foundation Issues! New to investment properties

Member since 2025 · 3 posts · 4 votes

I acquired a residential property when I purchased my business. The property has been vacant for over a year and is in terrible shape. The foundation has a crack where you can see they tried to put tar or flex seal over and there is heaving in the floor. I'm just trying to decide if the home is worth fixing and renting or do I just cut my losses and tear it down and use the property for other purposes. I paid $165,000 for the 1600 sq foot home and I'm assuming I will have to put at least half that much into repairs as there is severe damage to floors and walls as well as black mold. If the house were in perfect condition, it would be worth around 250-275k but as of now, selling isn't an option because we may use that property in the future for our business. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

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Investor · Prescott Valley, AZ · Member since 2017 · 27 posts · 13 votes
1y

Foundation issues can definitely be scary! I'd love to hear how this plays out as well.

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  • Lender · USA · Member since 2021 · 37 posts · 18 votes
    1y

    @Jenna Kelley I just commented on another post about this as well, but if you are having foundational issues, do not call a contractor I would highly recommend calling a structural engineer as they are going to tell you exactly what needs to be done. That might mean only pain $10,000 rather than $25,000 that a contractor might quote you. Sorry to hear you're going through that situation. Another thing is if you have black mold and you gut the property make sure you clean the air as well as you will still test positive for black mold, the spores can be floating around in the air still even if everything was removed! 

  • Ryan IrwinPro Member
    Investor · Ankeny, IA · Member since 2022 · 158 posts · 129 votes
    1y

    @Jenna Kelley agree with what @Mason Jacobs said above.  The other benefit of having a structural engineer look and advise on the property, is that you can then use that report as proof to a future buyer or tenant.  

  • Peter MckernanBusiness Member
    Residential Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    1y

    The foundation is one issue, I agree with the other two comments.. I would get a slab/foundation company out there to take a look at the property and see what the quote is to repair it. This should be 3-5 quotes for you to get an idea of the true number for fixing it. 

    The next part is to get a contractor(s) in the door to give you estimates on rehabbing the rest of the place to get it to rent out. You own it so that is a good thing, but if you bought it for 165K and it will take 75K to fix it up you are not in a great position to have a great ROI. I would also verify from a licensed realtor how much rent would be and how much selling it would be.. These will give you the out numbers, and then you can work backwards once you know the repair costs.

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  • Member since 2025 · 3 posts · 4 votes
    1y

    @Mason Jacobs thank you so much for the suggestions. I will look into a structural engineer to see where we go from here. Hopefully we can get some good information as far as which direction we need to go from here. I'm just worried the repairs are going to be way more than the ROI on this house and we may just have to cut our losses and move forward.

  • Lender · USA · Member since 2021 · 37 posts · 18 votes
    1y

    @Jenna Kelley please keep us posted would love to know what comes of it! 

  • Ko KashiwagiPro Member
    Lender · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2022 · 967 posts · 445 votes
    1y

    Structural engineer is definitely first step as Mason mentioned.

    It totally depends on liquidity, risk tolerance and time. If it costs 50k and you have 50k, you'd have to have a high risk tolerance and time to do this. If you have enough money but your business is the main driver of income in most cases you can make more money putting time into the business.

    You could also get creative here. Maybe partner up with a local flipper on the renovation, split the profits after the sell and move on.

  • Investor · Prescott Valley, AZ · Member since 2017 · 27 posts · 13 votes
    1y

    Foundation issues can definitely be scary! I'd love to hear how this plays out as well.

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